Internal-combustion engine.



B. A. HORNBOSTBL.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED 0GT.16,1911.

' 1,043,769 Patented Nov. 5,1912.-

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

D/Jness es I fwenfor f v UNITED's'rnri js rATEnT OFFICE EDWARD A.HORNBOSTEL, E DES MOINES,

Iotvn, ASSIGNOR T0 s. r. of ens ENGINE COMPANY, 01? DES moINEs, Iowa, APARTNERSHIP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Patented Nov. 5, 191 2.

Application filed uctober 16, 1911. .Strial No. 654,822.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. HORN- BOSTEL, a citize of the UnitedStates, residing at Des'Mo nes, Polk county, Iowa, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines, of

which the following is a specificatlon.

The objectof my invention is to provide an internal combustion. engineof simple, durable and inexpensive construction in which thesound of theexhausting gases resulting from the explosions is mu ed, and

v in which the efliciency of the engine and tion to its ordinaryfunction.

mufiler is materially increasedas compared with the ordinary engines andmufllers now in use. I

' A further object is to provide an engine and mufiier of this characterin'which the water jacket surrounding the cylinder is made to serve aspart of the mufiler in-addi- A further object is to provide a hollowpiston. for an engine of this class and also to so construct the enginethat .the piston and the surrounding water jacket jointly form a mufllerof great efliciency and of very -simpleand inexpensive construction.More specifically in th s connectioniti's my object to provideamufil'er' which will aid in the efiiciency and operation of the. engineby cooling and condensing the exploded gases to thereby minimize theirtendency to create a-back pressure upon the piston as they are beingforced from the cylinder.

A further object is to provide an engine of this class in which thegases discharged from the cylinder are directed to impact upon the sideof the piston opposite from the side within the cylinder so that suchimpact will tend to give an upward thrust to the piston and thusincrease the general efficiency of the engine.

My invention consists in the construction,"

. arrangement and-combination of the various tarts of the engine wherebythe objects contemplated are obtained as hereinafter more fully'setforth, pointed out in the claims ings, in vhichz. g

and illustrated in the accompanying draw- Figure 1 shows a sideelevation'iof a complete engine embodying'my invention Fig. 2 shows ahorizontal sectionaljviewzon ,the" line 2-2 of.Fig. t; Fig. 3 showsaiside elevation of the 'piston illustrating-the: side;

thereof through which the gases en r; F s-Q I have used the referencenumeral 10 to -indicate the engine crankcase, having therein an engineshaft 11 provided with a pitman 12. On the engine shaft isagear wheeliei'n mesh with a gear wheel 1 1K011- the cam shaft 15. The cam shaft isprovided with cams 16 of the ordinary construction one of which isillustrated in Fig. Land they are arranged to operate the valve stems 17having the valves 18 thereon one of which-is illustrated in Fig. 4.Above the crank case is the engine cylinder 19 having a valve chamber 20at its upperend. Said cylinder is provided with a water jacket 21 All ofthe parts just described are "of the ordinary construction and operatein the ordinary manner.

In order to increase the efficiency of the engine and its economy offuel consumption,

I have provided a piston comprising a hollow body portion 21*. Thispiston is provided ononeside with a vertical slot 22 and on the oppositeside with a second vertical slot 23. 'Within the interior of the pistonis a partition 24 tapered upwardly from both sides to a"point near theto ofithe piston, said partsbeing so arrange that when the explodedgases are forcedinto thepiston through'the inlet opening'22 they will bedeflected upwardly by. said partition and .strike forcibly upon the topof the piston and will then pass over the partition and be dischargedoutwardly through the slot or discharge opening at the opposite side ofthe piston. This slot 23 in the-discharge side of.

" the piston extends only a short distance upwardly from the lower endof the pistonand above the slot is a passageway 25 for discharged gases.Hencc all ofathe discharged gases must-pass downwardly over thepartition 24 before they can escape through the slot 23 and thepassageway 25. py-Referrinlg'to- Fig. 5 ofthe drawings, it

will-be noted that int-he valve chamber 20 is the partition 26separating the inlet chamber from the exhaust chamber.

In order to conduct the exploded gases into the piston with the leastpossible amount of friction I have provided an inlet passageway 27 whichextends downwardly and around the cylinder, through the water jacket toa point near the bottom of the cylinder on the side opposite from theexhaust port. At the end of the passageway 27 is an inlet port 28 in thewall of the engine cylinder. This port is, as will be seen in Fig. 4,inclined upwardly so that the gases are dis- "charged in an upwarddirection. Ino rder that the mutlier maywhen desired, be cut out, I haveprovided a slide plate. 29 at the end of the passageway 27, which, whenopened, will uncover a discharge port in the side of the passageway 27.To provide for the-discharge of the exploded gases from the. interior ofthe piston I have provided a dis-.

charge opening 30 in the side of the cylinderoppositefrom the inletopening 28. .This

discharge opening is so arranged with reference to thepassageway 25 thatthe gases may be discharged through the said passageway and openingduring any position of the piston stroke.

In practical operation andassuming that an explosion'has just takenplace andthe cylinder is filled with the exploded gases,

en as the :piston starts upwardly or when the exhaust valve is opened bythe cam, said exploded gases will then escape through the passageway 27and theopening 28 into the interior of the piston. These gases will bedeflected by the partition 24 and also by the upwardly inclined opening28 so that they -'will forcibly strike upon the under surface of thepiston-during its upward movement andwhatever force there 15 to theimpact of s'aid gas'es will be expended'in creating an "upward pressureupon the piston during its .up stroke. The exploded gases will then movethrough the piston-to the other side of the partitioniand may freelypass out through thepassageway 25 and the open-.

One ofthe advantageous. features of my in uenti'on is thatthe waterjacket will tend to keep ,the walls ofthemuflier relatively rapidlycooled during their passagewaycool and the heated exploded gases will bethrough the mufller-sothat they will quickly condense, sothat beforebeing discharged throughfthe opening 30 they will have materiallydecreased'in v'olume-andthey will also have lost considerable of theirvelocity.

-' Another advantageous feature is that the walls of themufiier beinsurrounded by a .water jacket will provi e a very efficient barrier tothe sound waves and hence the noise of the explosion will be greatlydecreased. v I am well aware that the passing of the -.fere with theproper lubrication. I have further demonstrated by (experiment that theamount of heat applie to the piston and cylinder in an "engine oftbekind shown in the drawings is advantageous rather than otherwise andresults in an economy of fuel.

It is well known that when the gases are introduced in cold conditioninto a comparatively cool cylinder the mixture of air and gas is not asperfect as when the gas is discharged into aheated cylinder. This iswell understood by those skilled in the art and is demonstrated by thefact that an' engine ofthis type runs better and. more elficiently afterthe cylinder has been heated which occurs in the'ordinary type of engineafter a considerable period of use. With myimprovement the passing of.the heated exploded gases through the piston; and the lower part of thecylinder quickly wariiis the piston and the cylinder to the desireddegree without injuriously' overheating them,

and hence the cold-gases introduced in the cylinder are rapidly andquickly heated and are thoroughly commingled before they are exploded,and I'have demonstrated that when the gases, are discharged directly tothe outside atmosphere by opening the slide 29 the fuel consumption ofthe engine is increased es compared with the operation of the enginewhen the gases are passing throu h the piston and the lower end of thecylin er. Assuming that a mufiler is a necessary adjunct to an engine,my improvement results in the production of an engine an mutller havingan lnoreased eflicien'cy far as power is concerned over an engine andmatfler of'the ordinary type, and my iinpr e ment further results in anincreased ellicicnrj: of fuel consumption. As far as the mnilier featureitself is concerned, I have provided a mufiier ofgreat efiiciency inthat sound waves are almost wholly absdrhed within the piston and thewater jacket. I

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is: V

1. In an engine of the class described, the

I combination of a cylinder having an exhaust port, a hollow piston,said piston being provided with an inletopening and with an outletopening, means for conducting the me ploded gases from the exhaust portto the interior of the piston, and means for permitting the escape ofthe exploded gases from the piston.

2. In an engine'of the class described, the combination of a cylinderhaving an exhaust port, a hollow piston, said' piston being pro videdwith an inlet-opening and with an outlet opening, means for conductingthe exploded gases from the exhaust port to the interior of thepiston,'and means for permitting the escape of the exploded gases fromthe piston, said means being so arranged as to permlt the discharge ofsaid gases from the piston during all positions of the piston movement.

3. In an engine of the class described, the

combination of a cylinder having an exhaust port, a hollow piston havingan' inlet opening on one side and a discharge opening on the other, saidengine cylinder being provided with an opening extended upwardly todirect exploded'gases to strike against the side'of the piston headopposite from the side within the cylinder, means for conducting theexploded gases into said opening, the said cylinder being also provldedwith an opening on its opposite side through which the exploded gasesmay escape from the piston.

1. In an' engine of the class described, the combination of a cylinderhaving an exhaust port, a hollow piston having an inlet opening on oneside and a discharge opening on the other, said engine cylinder beingprovided with an opening extended upwardly to direct exploded gases'toenter the piston ,and to strike against the side of the piston headopposite from the side within the cylinder, means for conducting theexploded gases combination of an engine cylinder having an exhaust portat one side, said cylinder being formed with a passageway leading fromsaid exhaust port around the cylinder 'and' toward the end of thecylinder opposite fromthe exhaust port, said cylinder being providedwith an opening atthe end of said passageway, a hollow piston having aninlet opening at one side in communication with the said opening 1n theside of the cylinder and also having an exhaust opening on theotherside, said cylinder being also formed with an opening for dischargedgases ,com-

municating with the latter opening inthe piston.

, 6. An engine of the class described comprising a cylinder having anexhaust port, a water jacket surrounding the cylinder, a

hollow piston having openings ln'opposite sides thereof, means forconducting exploded gases into the vpiston at one side, and saidcylinder and water jacket being provided with an exhaust opening on theother side in communication with the hollow piston. Des Moines, Iowa,October 12, 1911.

EDWARD A. .HORNBOSTEL. Witnesses:

PAUL M. PAYNE, W. P. BAIR'.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for fiv'e cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D- O.

